


First Date

by hellvetica



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-09
Updated: 2013-03-09
Packaged: 2017-12-04 19:22:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/714148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellvetica/pseuds/hellvetica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reese and FInch at the start of Proteus, before they come out of the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Date

The rain was oppressive, not a happy Spring rain that danced on windowsills and caused flowers to sprout and birds to sing. This rain had droned on and on for days now, drenching the city and damping spirits. The machine had not given up any numbers for as many days as the rain had been falling. Maybe The Machine was depressed by the rain also, thought Finch. 

He quickly corrected himself, "It's just a machine."

Mr. Reese was bored. When Mr. Reese became bored, Mr. Finch became anxious. He never knew how the tall ex-op's boredom would manifest itself. He had already inventoried and cleaned his arsenal. He had paced until Mr. Finch put a stop to that. He and Bear had played until Bear declared it naptime. Now he was sitting on the couch across the room with some reading material in his lap but Mr. Finch knew without looking that Reese was not reading the magazine. He could feel Reese's eyes on him. He continued to tap at the keyboard, causing lines of code to scroll on the monitor. He knew what he would see if he suddenly looked up. He had surreptitiously glanced at Reese earlier and was reminded of a feline staring down its prey. He felt like a bird in a cage with no place to hide as a hungry cat circled. He even imagined he saw the tip of John's tongue lick his lips as if anticipating a tasty morsel. No, that couldn't be right. He was imagining things. Time to put an end to this.

"Mr. Reese, it has come to my attention that we have all been cooped up in here for the past few days and deprived of any social interaction. I have a new cover that I wish to test. Would you care to accompany me?" 

John had his coat on almost as fast as Bear could wake up and grab his leash. Bear always assumed he was included on family outings. Bear dropped the leash at Harold's feet and looked up expectantly. Harold reached into the drawer that held the treat container and slipped a few treats into his pocket. Then he pulled out his latest creation. Creating a new identity for Bear had not even been a challenge. Soon after John had brought Bear to stay with them at the Library, he had altered the records associated with the implanted ID chip that was in Bear's shoulder. Though Bear was an alias to what was on his ID chip, he now belonged to Harold Burdett. It had been child's play to create new training records that obscured Bear's military past and a new pedigree, but he wavered when it came to a uniform. He considered having his tailor make one, or even doing it himself but in the end decided that maybe off-the-rack would invite less attention. It had recently arrived from the on-line site. Shrugging off John's bemused expression, he fitted the service dog vest onto Bear.

"I thought I was your service dog, Finch." 

"I need one a bit more ...docile", retorted Finch.

The corner of John's lip twitched upward as the trio left the library.

In spite of the depressing rain, Mr. Reese felt his spirits lift. The constant downpour gave him a chance to hold the umbrella and walk close to Harold. He maneuvered so that he was next to Harold and Bear was on the outside, whining about having to get wet. Reese allowed himself the luxury of letting his umbrella arm lightly rest across Harold's back. The mundane task of keeping his little bird dry caused a feeling of warmth to spread throughout his chest.

Reese held his curiosity until they arrived outside the Cinema Village in Greenwich Village. The marquee announced, 'Rashomon' and 'The Rain People'. He knew subtitles would be involved and hesitated. 

"Mr. Reese, Bear needs to work on his people skills if he is going to pass as a service dog. I thought this would be a good place to start."

John glanced at the marquee and back to Harold. He did not care for 50-year-old foreign films with subtitles. His taste in movies ran more to an action film or a good western. Still, this was an opportunity to sit close to Harold in a dimly lit environment, so what the hell. 

Inside, the theater was nearly empty. Maybe the rain was keeping people home. They settled near the back where Bear could stretch out in the aisle. The restored theater and projector behind them reminded him of his teen years in Puyallup, Wash. 

That was another lifetime ago. 

Several lifetimes ago. 

He had had his first sexual encounters in such a place. He smiled at the memory of groping in the dark while some nameless film played. He knew he was a handsome man and over the years he had not wanted for sexual partners (of either gender). He had also learned the difference between sex and love.

Yeah, this was definitely about sex.

But un-characteristically he had not made a move on the quirky genius seated beside him and had lately started asking himself "Why?" He wanted Harold so badly he hurt, but he was being forced to admit that this might be something more than sex and he possibly was in love for only the second time in his life. He was taking the slow approach, cultivating a relationship to allow gaining the assets trust.

The warmth, after coming in from the cold rain, the dark surroundings, the rhythmic clicking of the projector and Harold's impossibly cute sideburns were more than John could resist. He reached over and found Harold's elbow on the armrest between them. His fingertips stroked lightly downward until he found Harold's fingers and twined them with his. Harold's skin was even softer than he had imagined.

He heard a sudden intake of air as Harold exclaimed, "Oh."

After what seemed like an eternity to John, Harold let out a slow sigh but he did not move his hand and in the darkness Mr. Reese smiled.


End file.
